Quoting once again from an email that made the rounds this past
year on the subject of
”
The Laws of Reality
”
(consisting of some comical sayings) one such
”
law
”
is entitled
”
Wailer’s Law
”
and says:
”
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it
himself.
”
Quoting once again from an email that made the rounds this past year on the subject of “The Laws of Reality” (consisting of some comical sayings) one such “law” is entitled “Wailer’s Law” and says: “Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.”
Since the issue of residential blight in Gilroy has become such an elevated topic over the last few months, it’s fortunate for Gilroy residents that we no longer have to “do it ourselves” when it comes to dealing with property blight created by others. Therefore, what might have been impossible a year ago for blight clean-up, is now in fact possible.
While fellow-columnist Tom Mulhern wrote about local blight recently, I don’t agree with his suggestion that a solution for blight in your neighborhood might be as simple as talking to your neighbor (who’s causing the problem) about it.
Maybe in a friendlier day and age that might have worked even in Gilroy, but then in a friendlier day and age I suspect most people were more sensitive in the first place to the fact that property blight was not a characteristic of being a good neighbor. And I suspect that most people were on speaking terms with their neighbors and could have friendly discourse.
Fast forward to today. I’ll guess that most people today, even in Gilroy, don’t even know their neighbors, or don’t know the neighbors more than two houses on either side of them or across the street. It seems our California big-city society (of which Gilroy being in the bay area is part) lives more and more in a world of chosen isolation, especially when it comes to knowing our neighbors. And besides, as I’ve said before, the standard answer to the kindly neighbor who wants to communicate a request for a neighbor to clean-up blight is either “it’s my property, I’ll do with it as I please” or “mind your own business” or some other very unkind words and epitaphs or even retaliation and threats.
Tom also seems to forget that his suggestion for local blight violators to pay with a “requirement of community service picking up trash along one of our roads for a weekend,” would create liability issues that Gilroy can ill afford. What if Joe Blighter, while in the act of picking up trash gets hit by a car and is seriously injured, or suffers a heart attack and dies? Then the city gets sued, pays out a lot of cash for a wrongful death or disability, and then it truly would be more trouble and expense than it’s worth to deal with people who don’t understand the basic concepts of blight in Gilroy. So no, not a good idea.
What I propose is the establishment of what I’ll call The Gilroy Crusader’s TRASH award. This TRASH award (which stands for unTidy Residences Antagonizing Sensible Homes) will apply to Gilroy only and will be mentioned at least monthly in this column, and will be nominated by you the readers. Maybe a little negative publicity will cause blighters to be embarrassed enough to do something about their mess before the city is asked to get involved.
Here’s the qualification for a Gilroy Crusader TRASH award nomination: any residential property in Gilroy on which there exists a condition or activity described as “Gilroy residents who let rundown vehicles, overgrown weeds or excessive trash pile up on their front yards. The new ordinance [also] bans parking any motor vehicle on any portion of an unpaved front yard. [It] bans parking, keeping or storing any boat or motor vehicle, including RVs, whether operable or inoperable, on any portion of the front yard of a property except on a paved area for more than 72 consecutive hours,” according to The Dispatch.
So good citizens of Gilroy who are against property blight, email me with your nomination for a TRASH award. Be sure to include the property address, and why you think it fits the criteria of blighted property. I’ll personally check out the property, and if it meets the qualifications included in a document sent to me by GPD officer Gary Muraoka entitled “Chapter 5C Blighted Residential Property” then I’ll include it in my column as a TRASH award winner.
Remember, this will be my opinion, and not any official position of The Dispatch, the GPD, the GFD, the ATF or the FBI. I would only hope Batman would agree.
